Page 5 - Correspondance Course Lesson 5

COMMENT: Since the inheritance is to be an ETERNAL inheritance, it of necessity involves and includes EVERLASTING LIFE! More about this later.
4. Was this promise expanded until it ultimately included inheritance of the WHOLE EARTH? Rom. 4:13.
COMMENT: Not one word about heaven! Through Abraham, all true Christians are promised the earth!
5. Were the same promises God made to Abraham also made to his son, Isaac? Gen. 26:1-5.
6. And were the same promises then given to Jacob, Isaac's son? Gen. 35:9-12. And to Jacob's children ‒ the Israelites? Rom. 9:4.
COMMENT: Jacob, whose name was changed to "Israel," had twelve sons. Each son gave rise to one of the twelve tribes of Israel, known collectively as the "children of Israel," or Israelites.
Obedience BEFORE Inheritance
1. In making this promise to Abraham, God conditioned it on obedience. What did God tell Abraham to do? Gen. 12:1.
2. Did Abraham resist, quibble and argue with God about leaving his homeland? Or did he just DO what he was commanded? Gen. 12:4; Heb. 11:8. Into what land did God lead Abraham? Gen. 12:5.
COMMENT: God called Abram (as his name was then) out of Ur of the Chaldees, the land of his birth. That land was under the sway of the political system that began at Babel, symbolic of the spiritual "Babylon" in which we live today! Today, God calls us out of this present world ‒ this modern Babylon! (Rev. 18:1-4). Abraham did obey! First, he left his native land, his friends and relatives, his old ways of life ‒ he forsook ALL and followed where God led. But God did not stop here in testing Abraham's willingness to obey Him.
Let's notice:
3. How did God further test Abraham? Gen. 22:1-2.
COMMENT: The proper translation of the word "tempt," as used here, is "try." God tempts no man (James 1:13). When the King James translation of the Bible was made, the word "tempt" meant to "try," or to "test." That is why the translators used the word "tempt" in Genesis 22:1.
4. Did Abraham, in facing this test, stop to reason it out, make excuse, or rebel? Or did he faithfully OBEY God ‒ even rising early in the morning to obey His command? Gen. 22:3.
5. Did God allow Abraham to kill his only son? Gen. 22:10-12.
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